Coppersafe in QT question

[Hoodstream]

My two clowns got ich in my DT and I pulled both of them and my goby (the only fish in the tank). I set up a 10 gallon QT tank and have fed once a day but since tank isn’t cycled going on day 3 now there’s ammonia present. I wanted to do a 50% water change but was wondering if I should add coppersafe again in equivalence to the water I took out. I’ve read mixed things and I wanna keep my fish as healthy as possibe. Thanks in advance!

 

[Sebastiancrab]

My two clowns got ich in my DT and I pulled both of them and my goby (the only fish in the tank). I set up a 10 gallon QT tank and have fed once a day but since tank isn’t cycled going on day 3 now there’s ammonia present. I wanted to do a 50% water change but was wondering if I should add coppersafe again in equivalence to the water I took out. I’ve read mixed things and I wanna keep my fish as healthy as possibe. Thanks in advance!

Yes, you should add coppersafe again in equivalence and also be testing the water for copper using a kit that is not API. Make sure you have an airstone in your tank. Feed your fish two or three times a day at least. Add a bacteria starter such as Biospira or Seachem Stability etc. Whatever you do, do NOT use Prime. Mixed with copper medications it is toxic to fish.

 

[Hoodstream]

Yes, you should add coppersafe again in equivalence and also be testing the water for copper using a kit that is not API. Make sure you have an airstone in your tank. Feed your fish two or three times a day at least. Add a bacteria starter such as Biospira or Seachem Stability etc. Whatever you do, do NOT use Prime. Mixed with copper medications it is toxic to fish.

Thank you for quick response, kudos!

 

[mehaffydr]

One more thing you should mix the top off water and test its level of copper before adding to the QT that way the QT NEVER drops below 2.0ppm

 

[threebuoys]

One more thing you should mix the top off water and test its level of copper before adding to the QT that way the QT NEVER drops below 2.0ppm

I may still be asleep as I read this, but I find this statement confusing. Just in case,

Do NOT add any copper to the water used to top off the tank due to evaporation. Copper does not evaporate. As water evaporates, the copper concentration in the tank will actually increase, just as salinity increases.

Do ADD copper and salt to the water you add to replace water you have removed with a water change to control ammonia as the water removed will also remove the dissolved copper and salt.

 

[mehaffydr]

One more thing you should mix the top off water and test its level of copper before adding to the QT that way the QT NEVER drops below 2.0ppm

I should have worded this differently. What I was trying to say was to make sure and add copper to the water change water. They were talking about ammonia and frequent water changes so what I was meaning was as you do water changes make sure the replaced water is the same as the removed water.
I think the most important thing is a good test kit so tat you can monitor copper levels accurately.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

My two clowns got ich in my DT and I pulled both of them and my goby (the only fish in the tank). I set up a 10 gallon QT tank and have fed once a day but since tank isn’t cycled going on day 3 now there’s ammonia present. I wanted to do a 50% water change but was wondering if I should add coppersafe again in equivalence to the water I took out. I’ve read mixed things and I wanna keep my fish as healthy as possibe. Thanks in advance!

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

One thing to clarify, Coppersafe uses ammonia to bind to the copper. It will show as up to 0.50 ppm on some copper test kits. This makes it a bit difficult to know when you are testing ammonia if the reading you are getting is from fish waste, or your copper, or both.

Jay